Plans for UK’s largest battery storage facility submitted to Wiltshire Council
It's suggested the site near Corsham could power a million homes for an hour
Plans to build the UK’s largest battery storage facility have been submitted to Wiltshire Council.
Renewable energy firm Grenergy wants to build a 450MW Battery Energy Storage System near Corsham.
If given the go-ahead, the facility would dwarf Lakeside Energy Park in Drax, North Yorkshire, which has a capacity of 100MW.
Battery Energy Storage Systems store renewable energy produced by solar farms and wind turbines, releasing power to the grid when it is most needed – helping to mitigate fluctuations in supply.
Grenergy says its Brockleaze facility could supply enough energy to power one million homes for an hour – over five times the number of homes in Wiltshire.
Grenergy says the facility, on 14 acres at Neston Park Estate – where the BBC TV adaptation of Lark Rise to Candleford was filmed – will be “tucked away from local homes and businesses.”
However, the facility would be half a mile from the village of Neston, and one resident told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “while the noise and visual impact will affect those who live on or near Brockleaze or use the bridle path the most, it will also have an impact on other residents of Neston and surrounding villages too and is a cause of concern for us all.”
If planning permission is granted, the company hopes to start work on the facility next year and have it operational by the end of 2027.
The facility would include 108 shipping container-sized batteries along with an electricity substation, 2.4 metre security fencing, lighting and CCTV towers up to 4.3 metres high, and 3 metre tall acoustic barriers. A switchgear building would stand 7 metres in height.
Locals – 133 of whom were consulted by post in the Spring – are concerned about the visual impact of the development, the noise caused by cooling fans, and especially the risk of fire.
Public feedback received by the firm includes “proven new potentially unsafe technology,”
“Aticular concerns for fire events and what happens to toxic fumes/contaminated water in the event of a fire,” “unsafe and has not considered risks to local population,” and “they are a high risk of catching fire and releasing toxic fumes.”
According to a report produced last month for the House of Commons library, there “is no reliable, publicly accessible record of the number of BESS fires that have occurred in the UK or elsewhere.”
However, media reports of fires at BESS facilities have come out of Liverpool, Essex, and most recently in Cirencester where forty firefighters tackled a blaze at a hybrid solar farm, using specialised equipment to bring the fire under control.
Nearby roads were shut down, and members of the public were asked to avoid the area entirely while emergency crews worked.
A full investigation is still underway, but early reports suggest the fire originated in one of the battery storage containers, following a “thermal runaway” event, which happens when heat generation within a lithium-ion battery cell escalates uncontrollably.
Addressing the risk of fire, Grenergy said: “We will undertake rigorous health and safety assessments to ensure the new facility exceeds the minimum health and safety requirements for Battery Storage Systems. “Despite common misconceptions, BESS are extremely safe and reliable facilities and the design of the system at Brockleaze has been optimised according to guidance to reduce and potential risk.
“The Fire Service will review the scheme design and the mitigation measures in place. A Fire Strategy Plan will be submitted with the planning application which is the effective risk assessment for the scheme and sets out the detailed response to how any incident would be managed.
“There is no expected risk to health from the BESS facility in normal operation.”
Anyone wishing to comment to Wiltshire Council on the proposals can do so before August 28, quoting application number PL/2025/05552